


Redemption

by Haydenpumpkinchan



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Betrayal, Character Death, Dark, F/M, Ghosts, Haunting, Horror, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Lies, M/M, Monsters, Multi, Murder, Mystery, Original Character(s), Physical Abuse, Supernatural Elements, Suspense, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:08:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28803309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haydenpumpkinchan/pseuds/Haydenpumpkinchan
Summary: After his mom committed suicide, Caine Sarius and his dad moved back into their old house in Cimmerian to get away from the bad memory.But things have changed since they've been gone. Ever since he and his dad moved out of state for a few months, a new family moved in. However, they didn't stay for long. Just a few short months later, the youngest son was found dead in his room; suicide.He left a journal behind, explaining he was on a mission; a mission Caine and his friends now find themselves stuck on. Something about a cursed amulet that let's the wearer see the dead, and some bullshit prophecy. It's got to be fake, right? Because there's no such thing as ghosts.Only...stranger things have been happening as well.Like how people are going missing and showing up days later- their dead bodies mutilated. Or how about the strange apparitions that are suddenly appearing? And why are all the townspeople suddenly avoiding him? How did eight people mysteriously die, leaving behind no clues, and no leads? Is it really a wild animal that's attacking people? And seriously, what are the popular kids hiding?But most importantly, who are the spirits that are haunting Caine's house, dreams and mind?
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character, Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. Prologue

"You're dead, Luke! You hear me? You're fucking dead!"

Luke, knowing full well that would be true if they caught him, pushed himself to run faster. 

They knew. They knew he had broken into Lucian's house and stole the amulet. He wasn't sure how, but that hardly mattered now. Wind whipped his blonde hair back, stinging his face. It was past midnight and the temperature had dropped dramatically. The sky was black overhead, with thin, horizontal clouds occasionally covering the moon.

He was nearly home, he could see the dark house looming in the distant horizon. He didn't risk a quick look behind his shoulder, he could hear their footsteps gaining on him clear enough. He gasped for breath, his sides screaming in pain for him to stop.

"You can't hide!" A females voice cackled.

They were gaining.

He wasn't going to make it, that much he knew. But he was still going to try.

He leaped up the three small wooden steps and threw open the front door, thankful his parents had forgotten to lock it. He slammed it shut, but didn't have time to twist the lock before the kids hurled themselves against the door, preventing it from being closed all the way.

"Got you now," Lucian smirked, one blue eye catching in the moonlight. It glinted in the thin space between the door, revealing his murderous intentions.

Behind him, long black nails scraped and scratched against the wooden door, as the person tried to push their way into the house. 

Terrified, Luke stumbled back and raced up the stairs, skipping three at a time. 

He ran into his room and stopped. He had nowhere else to go, and everyone knew it. He turned and faced his doorway, just as the five kids after him burst through. 

"Enough running, Luke," Lucian demanded. His hair looked especially white in the moonlight, the platinum blonde catching the moons glow before a passing cloud hid it again. His muscles strained from the physical exercise he had just endured. "Give it back to us now, and I'll only kill you half to death."

"You'll never find it!" Luke spat, backing up as they advanced. "I've hidden it where your evil hands can never get to it!"

The boy snorted. "Evil? We aren't evil at all. You, however, breaking into my house and stealing my family heirloom, is evil."

"It's not just _your_ family heirloom," Varia snapped, glaring at Lucian. Her small body leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "We all had a part to play in it, or did your big jock ego seem to forget-"

"Shut up, psychopath." Lucian rolled his eyes.

"No, you're definitely evil," Luke shook his head. He had backed up as much as he could, his back pressed firmly to the wall. "I know what you're all planning to do; and I won't let that happen!" 

That made them all glare at him.

"You fucking rat!" Lucian hissed. He surged forward and grabbed Luke's collar, lifting the weak boy up and pinning his back to the wall. "You have no idea what you're messing with!"

Varia tsk'ed and shook her head, her bright red hair looking orange in the lighting. She pushed herself off the wall. "You see, this is why you don't meddle in people's things. Now we have to kill you."

"We aren't going to kill him!" Serena exclaimed, her tan hands flying to her mouth. "Are you guys crazy?!"

"We have to," Sterling said, his usually low voice even lower now. He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. "He'll tell on us if we don't. He knows everything."

"Guys, I-I'm not-" Serena stammered.

"Serena, listen to me," Lucian looked at her, his piercing blue eyes drilling into her soft brown ones. "Everything we've done will be in vain if he exposes us. Do you really want Gemma's death to be for nothing?"

"Well...no...but-"

"Alright then, death it is." Varia smirked at Luke, rubbing her pale hands together.

"You'll never get away with this," Luke glared at them. "Your crimes will be exposed! Even if it's not by me, then by someone el-" He was cut off when Varia got impatient and picked up a sock from his floor and angrily shoved it in his mouth, silencing him.

"How sad," Lucian faked a frown but his eyes smirked. He pressed Luke harder against the wall, making the blonde boy wince. "Poor Luke Manson, the new kid in town who never made any friends. The kid everyone thought was a weirdo. The kid who no girl wanted to date. Tragically commits suicide one night. He just couldn't take it anymore. Poor kid." 

He faced the black haired girl who hadn't said anything yet. "Nicoline, shut the blinds. We don't want any neighbors peeking in."

Luke thought of Raven, his next door neighbor and probably his closest friend, next to Hayden. Raven, who was less than fifty feet away. Raven, who would never forgive himself after hearing about Luke's death. Luke tried desperately to pry Lucian's hands off him, but the chase had drained most of his strength, and Lucian had always been an athlete who worked out five times a week.

"Aye aye captain." She gave him a fake salute, her green eyes glittering in the darkness. Her lithe body made its way to the window and yanked the dark crimson colored curtains across the window. This made the room entirely dark, so Varia flipped the lightswitch. They all blinked rapidly to quickly adjust to the new lighting.

Luke's mind raced. His parents were at that stupid wine tasting retreat and wouldn't be back until tomorrow, and his older brother Finn was away at college. He wouldn't be back until the weekend.

Sterling brushed his black hair out of his silver eyes. He glanced at Luke, who pleaded with his tear filled brown eyes, then glanced away. "We should do this in the bathroom." He said, looking at the ground. 

"Good idea. It'll be easier to clean up that way." Lucian nodded. He relaxed his grip on Luke. Not enough to let him get away, but enough to drag him away from the wall and into the connecting bathroom.

Varia turned on the water in the bath. 

The sound was a death sentence.

Nicoline opened the medicine cabinet and started pulling down bottles. "Let's see, I don't know which of these is the most lethal, but I'm sure if he takes all of them, that should do the trick."

Upon seeing all the bottles laid out on the sink, Luke's eyes widened and he struggled harder against the hands holding him. His heart was beating so loud, he could barely hear anything over it.

"Guys, please," Serena begged. "There's gotta be a-"

"You know there's not!" Lucian snapped. Upon seeing her flinch, he softened his voice. "This is the last one, Serena, I promise."

"You said that the last time." She said coldly. She glared at the rest of them. "I'm waiting outside. You freaks can do this on your own."

She opened the door and looked back, her eyes connecting with Luke's. She visibly got sadder. She opened her mouth to say something, debated against it, and stepped out, the door closing shut silently behind her.

"Alright, Sterling, come here and help me get him into the tub. Varia, you hold his other arm," Lucian said, releasing his grip just slightly-

Luke broke free, ripping his arm away from Lucian before the stronger boy could hand it over to Sterling. He spit it out the sock, coughing slightly. Lucian shouted in surprise and stumbled back a step.

Luke lunged for the door, but Nicoline swerved in his way, blocking his path like a cat. "Nah ah," she grinned waving a finger back and forth in his face.

Before he could shove her aside, hands grabbed him and pulled him back, throwing him backwards.

He gasped when he tripped on the rug, arms flailing as he fell on his back in the bath. The impact splashed water over the edge and onto the white tiles. His head knocked painfully against the soap holder. He coughed out water.

Quickly, Lucian advanced, pushing hard against Lukes shoulders. His blue eyes glittering with anger. "Now you're really going to get it." He held the terrified boy down and whipped his head to Varia, who was grinning like a maniac. "Be useful and find us some rope so we can tie his hands and feet. And tape!" 

She gave him a sarcastic salute and made a show of taking her time to leave. "Your wish is my command, master."

He grit his teeth. "Just hurry, bitch. I'm tired. Oh, and get a glass."

The door shut behind her, after she flipped him off for a microsecond.

With Lucian keeping his upper half pinned, Sterling holding his hands above his head, and Nicoline keeping his feet together, Luke could only sit and watch as the water continued to creep up. It covered his hips, then his stomach. It slowly ambled up his legs, so that only his bent knees stayed dry. He watched fearfully as it climbed up his chest, getting closer and closer to his face.

"P-please," he stammered, tears flowing down his cheeks. "Don't do this, I changed my mind! I won't tell anyone! Swear to God!"

"You should've just kept your mouth shut." Lucian shook his head. "If you had just minded your own business, we wouldn't be in this mess. Do you know long I'm going to have to put up with Serena's crying? I won't get any sex for a week!"

"Pity." Sterling said dryly.

"What about his wrists too?" Nicoline suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?" Lucian asked impatiently, glancing at the door.

"Don't suicidal people, like, cut themselves? I think it would make it more believable if we cut his wrists a little bit first." She explained.

Luke stared at her with wide eyes. "What- no!"

Lucian seemed to think it over. "Hmm, you have a point. Okay, I'll get a knife from the kitchen really quick. You guys hold him here."

He sat back, letting go of Luke, who instantly tried to scramble out of the tub.

Lucian stopped that with a swift punch to the face. Luke cried out, falling back. His cheek had a small cut that slowly oozed out blood. 

Lucian twisted the silver ring around his finger. "Make sure you hold him. If he gets out of this alive, we're all screwed."

Sterling and Nicoline tightened their hold. Lucian shut off the water as he left.

Once the door shut, Luke tried a different tactic. 

"Sterling, Nicoline, please, I know you both don't really want to do this!" He leaned his head back, blinking tearfully at the boy holding his wrists together. 

Sterling met him with a cold, empty stare. "It's not high on my list of things I like to do." He admitted. "But you'll ruin all we've worked for if we don't silence you. Sorry man, it's nothing personal."

Luke looked frantically at his feet, where Nicoline smiled up at him. 

"Sorry cutie, there's no getting through to me either." She winked.

Luke thrashed around, splashing water as he screamed for help.

"Dude, stop that," Sterling ducked his face to avoid water getting in his face.

The sound of arguing and running footsteps made them all freeze and look up.

The door was suddenly thrown open and Luke almost passed out from the overwhelming sensation of relief and hope spreading through his body.

Officer Orian pointed his gun at Sterling, then swiveled it to Nicoline. 

"Freeze, both of you! Let the boy go and get on your knees!" He shouted.

He had a black eye and part of his uniform was torn. Obviously he had met Lucian and Varia on the way up. He wondered if Serena had had a change of heart and called.

"Well do you want us to freeze or do you want us to get on our knees?" Sterling asked, letting go of Luke and raising his hands slowly. His voice held no emotion as he stared at the police officer.

"The second part sounds kinky." Nicoline giggled, putting her hands up too.

"Mr. Orian," Luke sobbed out. "I-"

_Crash!_

Luke gasped as he watched Officer Orian fall to the ground. His heart froze. 

Varia stood behind the unconscious officer, smirking. One hand was on her hip, the other held a half broken vase. "I've always wanted to try that. I thought it only worked in movies."

Lucian came running up too. A large kitchen knife was in his hand.

"You got him?" He panted, running a hand through his messy white hair. "Good. He gave me the slip in the basement, I thought we were done for."

He entered the bathroom and shut the door behind them, locking it.

"Now then, where were we?" He grinned maliciously at Luke, who cowered in the tub.

"Did you kill him?" He dared to whisper. He couldn't take his eyes off the unmoving body.

Varia shrugged, stepping over the officer. "Who cares? Hopefully. If not, we'll just deal with him after we're through with you." She dropped what remained of the vase on Mr. Orian as she passed.

Lucian was saying something but Luke couldn't hear. He stared in horror.

Mr. Orian. A well loved police officer. Hayden's dad.

Hands suddenly pushing him under the water shocked him back to reality.

He kicked and screamed, but the water just got into his mouth and made him choke. 

Just when he was about to pass out, he was pulled back up to the surface.

Lucian gripped his soaking wet shirt and pulled Luke close. "Where. Is. The. Amulet." He glared.

Luke just coughed out water. 

"F-fuck...y-you..." He gasped out. 

He decided right then and there that he would rather die than plead or bargain with them. 

Lucian sighed at the inconvenience. "Varia, where's that rope?"

Soon, Luke's hands and feet were bound tightly with some dirty rope that smelled like gasoline. Luke knew they had found it in the garage.

Nicoline screwed the top off one of the bottles. "How about this. We ask you a question, and whenever we hear an answer we don't like, you can either swallow a handful of pills, Varia can slit your wrists, or Lucian can see how long you can hold your breath. Deal?"

Luke just glared, refusing to speak.

Varia took one of his bound arms and flipped them over. She held the knife in her other hand. "If you don't want to speak, allow me to make you scream."

She placed the blade just below the rope around Luke's pale wrists. Blue veins were visible underneath the skin, and she lined up the knife with one of them. She glanced at his face. "Last chance."

"Go to hell, bitch." He retorted, sticking up his middle finger.

She snarled and drew the knife sharply across.

Luke couldn't hold back his scream, or the curse word that followed.

Blood bubbled to the surface of the wound and flowed down his arm. It dripped into the water, turning it slowly but surely to a deep crimson instead of clear.

"Next question," Lucian said, his voice deep. "How did you find out about us and the amulet?"

Luke breathed deeply, preparing himself for what would come next.

Nicoline glanced to Lucian. "Should I do the honors this time, or you?"

"I will," Lucian said as he placed himself by Luke's head. "We don't want him to get incoherent on us by those pills just yet. We need answers."

He placed his hands on Luke's shoulders again, and Luke squeezed his eyes shut, breathing in as much air as his lungs could hold.

Lucian shoved him under the water, and all sound instantly became muffled.

His arms fell into the water as well, and his wrist stung from where Varia had cut him. He struggled to come up for air but couldn't break the surface. His eyes shot open and his heart pounded. Lungs burning, he tried to kick at anything, but his jeans were so waterlogged it weighed his legs down.

Black spots covered his vision, slowly taking up all the space.

His last memory was Lucians cold blue eyes staring from the surface...

"Aaahh!" He coughed and gagged on water. Choking, he tried to breathe in great breaths of air, but it hurt his lungs to do that so he had to settle for little puffs instead.

"How long have you known?" Varia demanded. "Does anybody else know?"

It took ages, it seemed, to recall how to speak and it hurt his throat to do so but he finally managed a "Fuck off."

Another slash of the knife.

Another dunk. Even longer this time.

More harsh questions being yelled at him.

They cut his other arm. Blood now ran down the side of the porcelain bathtub. The water was red.

Luke wanted to die.

They tipped his head back and Nicoline dumped pills into his mouth, then cup after cup of water, straight from the bath, down his throat. He choked and threw half it all back up, so they did it again. He could taste his own blood in the water. 

"Oh, yuck!" Varia exclaimed when some of the blood splattered on her, jumping up. "There's diseases in that you know!"

Luke's head spun. His words slurred. Everything hurt. He constantly felt like he was going to vomit, but didn't have the energy too. The bath water had since turned cold and he was shaking in his wet clothes.

"This is getting us nowhere!" Lucian roared, standing up. "We're wasting our time with this! We need to find that fucking amulet and get the hell out of here! And now we have a fucking dead police officers body to hide and dispose of!" 

"Leave that to me," Varia said, standing as well. Despite what had happened in the past few hours, she gazed at Lucian with love in her brown eyes. "I can get rid of him as well as make sure no one links his death to us."

Luke tried to focus on Orian's body, tied up and still unconscious in the corner of the bathroom. He was still alive. For now.

"I don't care what you do, just hurry and get on with it!" He snapped at her.

She picked up the knife and grabbed a fistful of Officer Orian's hair, dragging him out.

Luke didn't want to think about what would happen next.

Sterling jumped off the sink and shoved his hands into his sweatshirt pocket. "Now what?"

"What do you mean?" Lucian glanced at him.

"Well, he's still alive," He nodded at Luke, who was slowly slipping beneath the water, "We have no leads about the amulet and now the police will definitely be investigating." He shrugged. "This night could have gone better."

"You think?" Lucian snapped at him, then sighed. "Sorry. I'm stressed."

"They won't connect Orians death with us and Luke," Serena said, standing in the doorway. "He was just doing a routine search when he saw the front door was left open and came to investigate. We just have to move his car and drop his body in the woods. Animals will eat any evidence on him and it will seem like he was investigating something in the forest and was attacked. Wasn't there mentions of a freak bear or wolf attack or something in the papers last week?"

Lucian smiled in admiration at her. "I'm glad you're back on board with us."

She glared at him. "I didn't approve of this. But since it's done the only thing we can do is cover our tracks."

"We'll have to destroy the camera's on his car before we move it." Sterling said. "We're just lucky he wasn't wearing a body camera too."

Lucian waved his hand. "Whatever, we can figure that out later. Varia has probably finished killing him. We better make sure she knows the new plan."

Sterling and Serena walked out, but Lucian lingered behind.

He walked over to Luke, who could barely keep his eyes open.

He untied Luke's hands and legs and surveyed the scene. "I think we made a pretty good suicide."

He shook his head and sighed. "Don't people know you can't get into other people's business? It only ends in death for them." 

He gently laid his hands on Luke for the last time. "I don't know if you can even still hear me, but we're going to find that amulet and finish what we started. How does it feel to have died in vain?"

Luke didn't- couldn't answer, but he didn't have to. He didn't have an answer.

Lucian pushed him under, and Luke let out his last breath.

He left the room as the last few bubbles broke on the surface of the cold, crimson water.


	2. Chapter 1

Caine's P.O.V.

Dad was a terrible driver.

My stomach was in knots as I tried to look at the dark forest scenery that was whizzing past my window. My headphones blocked out the boring radio station he was listening to, which was mostly just static, but I couldn't block out the feeling of being tossed from side to side in our small black Pontiac. 

Mom should've drove.

My stomach clenched tighter. 

But then again, if mom was here, we wouldn't even be driving.

She hadn't been rational for weeks.

I glanced back out my window. Dark green pine trees lined the small gray road we were traveling down. The sky was turning deep navy and purple, the sun setting behind us made the trees cast long shadows. 

Kujo's cat carrier bumped against my leg, and he meowed miserably, reminding us he didn't like being confined. In a car. On a road trip. For hours. Like we've been doing.

I stuck my finger through a small slot on the side of his kennel. "I'm sorry buddy, but we're almost there." I scratched his orange and white fur the best I could. 

I took one earbud out and looked up at my dad. "Right?"

"About ten more minutes." He confirmed. His eyes made contact with mine in the rearview mirror. "You recognize where we are yet?"

I nodded, putting my earbud back into place to avoid conversation. 

Of course I knew, I grew up in this town. I knew every little crack and crevice.

I was born and raised in Cimmerian, Minnesota. Me, my mom and my dad had lived here until last year in early December, when my mom had suddenly wanted us to move. She never told us why, but she was hell bent on getting out of that town as fast as we could sell the house. 

I remember her staying up all night, pacing in the kitchen. Dozens of coffee mugs littered the counter tops while newspapers and magazines with realtor sections circled in red marker were spread across our table. She had started talking to herself, muttering incoherent words, and snapping her head around to look behind her every few seconds. 

It was only a few weeks after we had finally moved to Fort Myers, Florida, that she seemed to calm down. She had stopped talking to herself, but her eyes always seemed to be shifty and on edge. 

Then, just eight short months after the move, I came home and s- 

"What?" I took out my headphones when I saw my dad waving his hand at me. 

"We're here." He said. 

My heart fluttered in my chest. 

We were moving back to our old house, and I had wanted this since I stepped off the plane in Florida. It took about three seconds to indefinitely decide hot, muggy weather and shorts were not my thing. I missed the sound of leaves being blown by a chilly breeze, the waves slapping against the giant rocks in Lake Superior up at Grand Marais, and people calling it 'pop', not 'soda'.

I don't know why I was nervous, I had left my best friend Raven behind in the move, as well as everything that was familiar to me. I was aching to see him again.

It was late August now, and school would be starting soon. The leaves above my head were already changing colors. 

It was beautiful. It was home. 

I listened to the comforting sound of dirt being crushed beneath our tires as we pulled off the road and into our driveway. 

As soon as my dad switched the ignition off, I threw open my door and leaped out, eager to stretch my legs as well as deeply inhale the pine scented air. It was crisp and refreshing, unlike the balmy, almost suffocating atmosphere down south. 

Slowly, I turned to face the house. It hasn't been changed. The gray, two story Cape Cod abode with its wrap around porch and steep roof still looked like home. 

"Are you going to help me carry bags in or just keep smelling the air like a weirdo?" My dad called. 

"I'll grab Kujo!" I opened my door back up and, with some difficulty, managed to yank the rather large cat carrier out. 

Kujo hissed his disapproval at the sudden shift, and I felt him slide across the floor of the kennel and bump into the other side. "Sorry, but you do weigh like twenty pounds." I grunted. "This isn't exactly easy for me." 

I managed to hold the carrier by the handle in one hand and pick up my own bag with the other. 

"Is it unlocked?" I asked as I walked to the front door. 

"No, but I have the keys." He slammed the trunk shut and balanced three heavy bags in his arms as he tried to dig the keys out of his pocket. 

While he struggled and cursed with that, I glanced to my right to Raven's house. 

I could see a yellow light on through one of the windows. His dad was probably watching TV in the living room, meaning Raven and his little brother Spencer were in their rooms, being as quiet as possible. 

"Dad, can I go see Raven after unpacking?" I pleaded. 

He sighed. "Caine, it's nearly midnight. Just wait until tomorrow." 

"But I haven't seen him in ages!" I whined, speaking louder to be heard over Kujo's meowing. 

"It's only been eight months, and he's probably asleep." He jammed the key into the lock and turned.

"Mom would have let me." I grumbled, before I realized what I had said. 

He gave me a look but didn't reply. I was thankful. I knew I had crossed the invisible line we never acknowledged but both knew was there. I honestly hadn't meant to. 

The door opened and we both stepped inside. 

Despite the tension of earlier, a smile wormed it's way across my mouth. 

Everything was the same. 

The family that had moved in thankfully hadn't made any changes to the house, and the movers had gotten here before us with all our old furniture and somehow placed everything back the way it used to be. 

It was like we never moved out. 

It was like Mom hadn't-

"Well, let's just unpack the essentials for tonight and get everything else done in the morning," Dad decided, setting his things down. He picked up one bag and carried it down the hall to his room. He'd have that giant bed all to himself now. 

I shut the door and set my luggage down. I knelt in front of Kujo's carrier and undid the lock. 

He crept out slowly, determined to sniff every inch of the place. 

I got his bowl out, quickly dumping some food into it to satisfy him for the night. 

He rammed his little head against my leg as a thank you. 

I picked up my bag and hurried up the stairs to my room. I was eager to finally be back in my favorite room of the house. 

I set my bag on my bed and flipped the lights on. 

My dresser had been moved from the far wall to in between my closest and bed, but I decided it was better there. 

My dad may have been tired, but now that I was home I was bursting with energy. I put my headphones back on and set my Playlist on shuffle as I opened my top drawer and starting shoving my clothes in. 

It was when I reached the third drawer, the bottom one, that I found it was stuck. 

I pulled and yanked on it, so hard that the whole dresser nearly toppled over on me, but it wouldn't budge. It was like five hundred years of glue was making it stick shut. 

I groaned in frustration and stood up. I'd have to fix it tomorrow, the tools were still downstairs somewhere in one of the many boxes. 

My phone lit up on my bed, and I quickly scooped it up and tapped in my passcode. 

_U home?_

Raven. 

I grinned and typed back. 

_Just got back. Wanna meet on the roof?_

His reply was instant. 

_U have to ask?_

I laughed to myself and went to my window, sliding it open. I yanked out my headphones and tossed them to the floor. 

I sat on the ledge and twisted around so I was facing the roof. I gripped the familiar hand holds I had installed years ago and hoisted myself up. 

My legs scraped the rough shingles and I grunted.

"Let me help you with that." 

I gasped when a pale hand suddenly entered my vision.

-

Raven's P.O.V.

I clasped Caine's hand tightly and helped him his feet. "Dude. You suck at this now."

"Shut up, it's been months since I last had to do this." He grumbled, finding his balance on the slope and brushing little rock debris off his palms. 

"Eight months, two weeks and five days but no one's counting." I grinned, brushing his hair out of my eyes. "Oh, and I'm the one who made sure the movers put all your furniture back exactly how it used to be, in case you were wondering. You're welcome."

"I _was_ wondering, thanks for that." He stared at me and tilted his head. "Are you happy?" He asked suddenly. 

I blinked, clearly not expecting to hear that. I shoved my hands in my front pockets, so he couldn't wrap his finger and thumb around my wrists and exclaim at how thin I was. He always did that and I didn't like it.

"Yeah, dad was out late so Spence and I got a pizza," I mumbled, looking away and scratching my hair. "It was fun."

"Good, you know how I am about you and Spencer." He said.

"Yeah, always the mother with us." I grinned, and he forced a smile.

We walked to the edge of the roof and sat down, our legs hanging over the ledge. 

"So, you're finally back," I sighed, leaning back on my elbows and looking up at the full moon. 

He laid on his back and tucked his hands behind his head, admiring the beautiful night sky. 

"Yeah, it feels great."

It seemed like the perfect time to confess something, so I did. 

-

Caine's P.O.V.

"A lot happened while you were gone," Raven said softly. "I really needed a friend."

I glanced at him. He was now sitting with his knees pulled to his chest, his arms crossed over them. He rested his chin on them, staring across the yard. 

I could sense his distress. I sat up abruptly. "What happened?"

He was silent for a moment, I could almost hear him gathering his thoughts, deciding what to say and how to say it. 

I pulled out my phone and played some soft music as background noise while I waited. I knew something would have happened, it's a small town and I was gone for eight months. Something was bound to go down. It had been giving me anxiety for months. Now I was finally going to hear it.

"There was this boy; Luke." Raven started, then turned his head away so I couldn't see his face. 

I could tell he was trying hard to hold his emotions back, so I didn't try to push him. 

I waited until he faced forward again, him staring at the edge of the forest and me staring at him. 

"We became friends. Not like best friends, like you and I. But, close. He understood me, and I got along easy with him. He introduced me to Hayden and Hayden introduced me to all his friends. They're all friendly and helped me not be lonely after you had to leave." 

I was thankful he said "had to leave", and not "left". I didn't leave willingly, let's leave it at that. 

"Then, all of a sudden, he just...quit." 

I frowned. "Quit? Quit what? The sports team?" 

Raven shook his head and made himself smaller. "No he wasn't on any teams. He just quit...being himself. He started showing up later and later to things, and then eventually stopped showing up at all. He stopped answering his phone and social medias, and rarely left his room. He became so paranoid he even dropped out of school." 

I didn't know what to say, so I just placed my hand comfortingly on his shoulder. 

"It was three weeks that went by without anyone hearing anything from him. Then, everyone's whispering at school that he killed himself. I didn't want to believe it, Luke would never do that to himself, but he wasn't answering any of my attempts to contact him, and everyone knew how he had been acting lately." He picked at the roof tile absentmindedly. "I couldn't make myself go to his house for the longest time, I was too scared the rumors were true. By the time I finally did, I ended up walking in on a small funeral gathering his family was having in the backyard."

He quickly brought his hand to his face and turned away again. 

He was really hurting about this Luke boy, I hoped he meant it when he said they weren't best friends, like me and him were. 

"I'm sorry," I said softly. "No one should have to go through that."

Before I could ask more about Luke, a loud crash startled both of us so abruptly, I nearly fell off the roof. 

Raven and I scrambled to stand up. 

"The hell was that?" He asked, alarmed. 

"Dad!" I shouted, running back to the window, hurtling myself through it in a move that should have qualified me for the Olympics. 

I heard a thump as Raven dropped in behind me, and we hurried down the hall. 

"Dad? You okay?" I called out again, holding onto the doorway of my room as I peered out into the dark hallway.

"Caine," Raven tapped my shoulder and pointed down the hall. 

I groaned when I saw the small coffee table at the end of the hall was knocked over. A picture had been resting on it, but now it was on the floor, its glass shattered. 

"Aw man, Kujo must've bumped it."

Crouching above the broken glass, I picked up the frame and studied it. I frowned. "I don't think this was ours." 

The picture showed two happy looking parents standing in front of who I assumed was their two sons. One was clearly older, as he wore a college sweatshirt and was about two feet taller than the younger. His muscular body stretched his sweatshirt out, and his smile was a dead giveaway he was popular with the ladies back on campus. 

The younger son was different, he wasn't smiling, and his eyes were downcast. His curly blonde hair sagged in his pale blue eyes, and his small body was half turned away from the camera, as if he didn't want his picture to be taken. 

"I think the Mansons left that here." Raven said, looking over my shoulder. 

"The who?" I straightened up and handed the frame to him. 

"Yeah, that's Luke Manson." Raven's tone had changed rather abruptly. His voice was softer, and he trailed his finger down Luke's face. 

I recalled vaguely my dad mentioning a family had moved into our house, shortly after settling into our new Florida apartment. My mom had just shook her hand at him, mumbling under her breath and shaking her coffee cup so hard that some splashed over the rim. 

"Here," I handed the picture to him. "You keep it. It'll be valued more at your house than mine."

He smiled at me, tucking the picture under his shirt.

I missed that smile...

"We should clean this up before my dad wakes up." I coughed unnecessarily before pushing the table back upright. 

As we walked to the living room to find a broom, Raven spoke up. 

"You know, I kind of find it hard to believe Kujo knocked that whole table over. I mean, it weighs three times more than him, and he was nowhere near the scene when we came in." 

"Easy, he ran when the crash sounded. He got scared and bolted." I said simply. "Pets do that all the time, humans too. Hey, search for the dustpan, would you?" I picked up the nearest box and rifled through it.

"Maybe, but it's still a heavy wood table. I know Kujo's not exactly thin, but he couldn't have knocked it over on his own." 

I huffed and sat back on my heels, looking up at him. "What are you saying? My cat took some steroids and manhandled a coffee table? My dad sleepwalked, pushed it over, then went right back to bed? Ghosts?" 

He broke into a smile. "Definitely ghosts." 

"Hey man, ghosts are cool with me. Getting haunted wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen to me." 

Two boxes later, I finally found the broom. "Find the dustpan?" I asked, getting to my feet. 

"Oh," he blushed, smiling sheepishly from his place atop a small stack of boxes. "I wasn't looking." 

I narrowed my eyes. "You little-"

"Oh wow! Kujo!" He quickly cut me off and scooped up my pet, who had just walked into the room. 

"Don't change the subject." I glared. 

He shoved the purring ball of fluff in my face and I resisted the temptation to give in and forgive them both. "Stop it."

"Aw come on, he didn't mean to break the picture," Raven cooed, following me up the stairs to the hallway, all the while rubbing his face against Kujo's. 

"Oh so now he _did_ break it?" I commented as I crouched down and swept up the bits of glass. 

"Ah who cares who did it, the important thing is nobody died." 

"How would someone die by just getting hit with a small table?" I laughed. 

"Hey! Twenty seven thousand people per year in the United States alone die by the hands of coffee tables!"

"Don't you mean by the _feet_ of tables?" I wiggled my eyebrows at him and he narrowed his eyes at me.

"How dare you make a joke to the fact I entirely just made up." 

"What's going on?" The lights flicked on suddenly, and we flinched at the brightness. 

My dad finished tying his red robe around his large stomach, and his bleary eyes were trying to decipher the mess his hallway had become. 

"Oh, hey dad." I shielded my eyes. "Kujo broke a picture so Raven and I are cleaning it up."

"It takes two?" He asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes. 

"No sir, that's why Caine's doing all the work and I'm just holding Kujo." Raven said, waving Kujo's small white paw. 

I poked my friends legs with the broom roughly, and he gasped as his knees buckled and he dropped to the ground. Kujo meowed a whine at the rude handling, and scurried down the staircase. 

"Alright, just don't get any scratches, I have no idea where the first aid kit is." My dad turned to go back to bed. "Raven, are you spending the night?" 

"You might as well, since it's already so late." I said, reaching a hand down to help him up. 

"I wish I could, but dad'll be mad if he finds out I was gone all night." Raven brushed his jeans off and declined.

I met my dad's eyes and we both frowned, but there was nothing we could do as Raven was right. 

"Welcome back, Mr. Sarius." Raven gave him a smile. "It's nice to see you again."

"It's nice to see you too." My dad gave him a firm handshake, before retiring back to his room, mumbling about teenagers.

I followed Raven back to my window, where the small rope ladder he had used to climb up to my window still hung. 

"See you tomorrow," he said, swinging one leg over the ledge. 

"We better have at least one class together or I'm going to riot." I complained. 

The first day of school was in just two weeks. I couldn't believe how bad my luck was, having to come back just in time for the new school year. 

"Well when you get detention for rioting, I'll join you, if that counts." He said, climbing down. 

I chuckled. "See ya, man."

He gave me a short wave before turning and heading to his house. 

I shut the window behind him, yawning. The day was suddenly wearing on me. 

I fell backwards onto my bed, bouncing a little. 

It then dawned on me that I never asked where Luke had killed himself.

Suddenly, the bathroom door creaked open.

I stared into the darkness for a moment, before chuckling to myself. I stood up and started to change into my pajamas. 

Like I said. Ghosts _wouldn't_ be the weirdest thing to happen to me. 


	3. Chapter 2

Caine's P.O.V.

_"Mom?"_

_I called out again, Kujo leaving me to walk down the hall to my parent's room by myself._

_Their door was open ajar. I tapped on it lightly. "Mom, you home?"_

_No answer._

_"Mom, you left th-" I pushed the door open and froze in my tracks._

_A scream bubbled up in my throat and erupted out of my mouth before I could stop it. From there, it was impossible to stop. Impossible to save her._

"Caine! Caine!" Someone was shaking me awake, roughly jolting my body out of sleep mode. "Wake up, you're going to be late for school."

It took me a moment to blink the sleep from my eyes and realize I wasn't in that horrible room in Florida anymore. I was home, in my old bedroom.

"Want me to drive you to school?" My dad asked, looking at me with worry.

I shook my head and rubbed my eyes, swinging my legs off the edge of the bed. "No, it's still nice out, I want to walk before it starts getting too cold."

"Okay," he nodded, but I could see he was still concerned.

My dad was the schools counselor, and a certified psychiatrist. He's been blaming himself for not seeing the signs of my mom's deteriorating mental health ever since the...incident.

"Well, hurry up. You only have twenty minutes until school starts." He swung his keys around one finger, making them clang together.

"You better head out now then, or you'll be late to being early." I said, shoving my covers off and standing up.

He chuckled. "See you later."

"Bye dad."

Once he left, I hurried to my window and looked across our yard.

Raven's own window was blocked by his curtain, but he always had them closed so I didn't know if he was home or not.

I knew he would be, though. We always walked to school together.

Two weeks of reconnecting with Raven and having stupid summer fun had passed faster than it felt. The air was chillier now, meaning my shorts were packed away until April.

I threw on a dark red plaid shirt and some gray jeans, ruffling my hair as I walked into the bathroom. After brushing my teeth, and deciding to pass on breakfast, I hurried down the stairs, skipping the last few as always.

I poured Kujo some more food and filled his water dish, something I had forgotten to do last night.

He came running as soon as he heard the sound of the dry pebbles hitting his plastic bowl. I smiled as he watched me pour, his purring being the only sound in the room.

That is, until I heard a door creak open.

"Forget something?" I called to my dad.

When there was no reply, I straightened up. "Dad?"

The pantry door had opened on its own, or at least I thought it had until I heard noises coming from inside it.

I kept my eyes on the door as I stealthily made my way to the counter, unsheathing a black handled knife from the wooden holder.

The hardwood floor creaked once under my feet and I cringed, but nothing happened from inside the pantry, so I quickly covered the last few feet and swung the door fully open.

"Freeze!" I shouted, holding the knife at cheek level.

Raven froze, a graham cracker half in his mouth, half in his hand.

He glanced at my knife, then at me. He bit the cracker and leaned back, a smile creeping on his face as he chewed. "Really? Freeze? What are you, a cop?"

I sighed and dropped my hand. "Dude, what are you doing in my kitchen? We have a front door you know, or, even better, some thing called a cell phone, so you can call me and say you're hiding out in my pantry."

He shrugged and put the box of crackers back on the shelf. He grabbed his jacket from atop a few jars of spaghetti sauce. "I wasn't hiding out, your dad let me in before he left."

I backed up so he could walk out. I stuffed the knife back into its place. "Yeah, well...whatever."

"You ready to head out?" He asked.

"Where's Spencer?" I asked.

Spencer, Raven's little brother, was twelve years old, and quite small for his age. He sometimes walked with us to school. Cimmerian was a town so small, we had the elementary school, middle school and high school all combined in one building. There was only about a thousand kids in all, spread out from five to eighteen years old.

Raven rolled his eyes and pulled his black jacket on over his white tee shirt. "I made him walk on his own, he's so clingy."

While Raven found his brother to be annoying, I thought he was actually rather endearing. What can I say, curly brown hair and dimples? Sold.

I ran back upstairs to grab my backpack and phone, and then Raven and I headed out.

Locking the door behind us, I knew I had to ask Raven about something that had been bugging me since last night.

I kicked a rock in his direction. "So, about Luke...his family was the one that moved into our house once we moved, right? And you said he killed himself in the same house..."

"Yeah?" He kicked the same rock I did.

"Well....what room did he...you know...in?"

"How much do you already know?"

We kept up the game as we talked.

"Literally nothing. Mom cut all ties with this place before she-" I cut myself off, staring at the horizon.

Raven stopped and stared at me. "Wait...do you seriously not know?"

"Not know what?" I hated asking questions. "I swear to God, if you replaced me with him as your best friend..."

"No! No, nothing like that! Wow, I thought you were already informed." Raven started walking again as he talked. "Well, from what I heard...uh, it was um, the bathroom next to your room." He admitted.

Now I stopped and faced him. "No way, you're just trying to scare me."

"No I'm not," he shook his head forcefully. "He slit his wrists in the tub! His parents found him the next morning, but it was too late. The place was ransacked too, they think he had a freak out episode before committing suicide. No one knows why."

I shivered. That sounded all too familiar.

I can't believe I slept ten feet away from a crime scene.

The sun shone through the trees as we walked down the lonely road. The air was slowly turning crisp and cold, as fall was approaching.

"So, then what happened?"

"What do you mean?" He questioned.

"What happened after he killed himself?"

"Well...nothing. The Mansons moved out and like a few weeks later you moved back in." He shrugged.

"There wasn't an investigation?" I asked.

"Why would there be an investigation on a suicide?"

"Well, did he have a history of depression or something?" I demanded.

"Dude, I don't know the dudes medical history," Raven backed up.

I sighed. "I'm sorry, you're right."

"Hey!" A high pitched voice called. "Hey, Rave!"

"Ugh, keep walking," Raven groaned, ducking his head and picking up his pace.

"Oh come on, let him walk with us, I haven't seen him in ages either." I laughed and turned to see Spencer and his best friend Fletcher running up to us.

"Whoa, Caine!" Spencer exclaimed in excitement as he skidded to a stop. "You're back!"

"That's right little man, I missed you too much to stay away." I held my hand out for a high five and he broke into a huge grin upon seeing it. He slapped his palm to mine with every ounce of force he could muster up, which made me wince. "Oh, okay, ouch, you clearly grew some muscle."

He beamed. "Yeah!" He suddenly motioned to his friend. "You remember Fletcher too, right?"

"How could I forget?" I held out my other hand and he shyly gave me a very light high five.

Fletcher's mom's had basically adopted Spencer, since he was over there so often.

"Can we go now? We're gunna be late." Raven whined.

"You left your room a mess," Spencer announced to his brother. "Dads mad."

"Dads always mad." Raven muttered.

"I'm spending the night at Fletchers tonight, wanna come over? We're gunna swim in his pool before they have to drain it." Spencer asked me excitedly.

"Aw that sounds awesome, buddy," I said. "But I can't, next time though, alright?"

He nodded, not disheartened in the slightest. "Okay!"

"Spence, can't you just hurry along?" Raven pleaded, cheeks reddening.

"Come on Fletcher," Spencer grabbed his friends hand. "Raven sucks anyway."

I chuckled as they ran off. "How can you hate him? He's adorable!"

"He's too happy." Raven glared. "And irritating."

"Your mood is irritating." I retorted and he shoved my arm playfully.

We had just arrived on the school grounds, when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.

Turning, I saw five figures hanging around the statue in front of the school.

A boy with white hair and piercing blue eyes was staring at me, his legs crossed as he leaned against the statue, hands in his pockets. He looked muscular, but not in a super buff kind of way. For a town that didn't get much sun, he had an impressive tan. Prominent jawline, clothes that clearly were expensive, a watch that was as much as the car I used to have...I disliked him already.

Next to him, a girl with long brown hair and soft brown eyes was sitting on the plaque, looking downcast. Her thin body was dressed in a plain pink shirt and light blue jeans. She wasn't dressed as elegantly as her white headed counterpart, but she held herself in the same way. I wondered if she was cold, that shirt was awfully thin.

Another girl with red hair so bright that it was nearly orange was glaring at me from her position at the base of the statue. Her hazel eyes were shooting daggers that made me want to duck, even if it would have made me look stupid. She was decked in all black, from a leather jacket to heavy army boots. I didn't like the way she was looking at me and Raven, like she was aching to attack us.

Glancing up, I saw a girl with big black curls all the way down her back, mischievous green eyes and a cute smile sitting on the arm of the statue, her legs dangling in the way of a boy who was swatting them out of his face in annoyance. His black hair hung in his gray eyes, and a smoking cigarette was between his slender fingers. They both had extremely fair skin, and black fingernails.

Upon making eye contact with the white haired boy, he straightened himself up and started walking over, his posse following.

I stopped, and grabbed Raven's arm to make him stop too.

"What?" He asked, clearly not wanting to be late.

I nodded at the group walking over to us, and I felt Raven stiffen.

"Why are they coming over here?" He demanded quietly.

I was about to shake my head that I didn't know, but then an expensive pair of black shoes entered my vision and I glanced up to see a boy a little too close in my personal space, and two inches taller than me.

"Hey." He said, shooting me a grin.

"Hi." I replied, sizing him up. "Can I help you?"

"You can, actually," he smiled. "I'm Lucian Graves, this is Serena," he motioned to the brown haired girl at his side, "That's Varia, Sterling and Nicoline." He pointed to the red head, the black haired boy and the black haired girl respectfully.

"Forget it, Lucian," Serena said, tugging on his sleeve. "Let's just go inside, the bell is going to ring soon."

"Hold on a second." He put a hand up to stop her. "I just want to talk to him for a minute."

"Where is it?" Varia suddenly demanded, shoving herself in my personal space so far I had to take a step back. "Where did you hide it, you little shit!"

"Whoa, what?" I snapped, getting angry. "Look, I don't know who the hell you are, or what you're talking about, but-"

"Hey, let's all calm down." Lucian smiled. "I apologize for Varia, she's a psychopath."

Sterling snickered, and Varia shot him a glare. "Oh shut up, Sterling. Like you're any more normal."

"Hey, hey, hey," Lucian raised his voice and glared at them. "Both of you, knock it off."

Something about these people seemed familiar, but I couldn't figure it out. "Look," I said, knowing Raven was really uncomfortable, "Like Serena said, the bell's going to ring, so-"

"I understand, we just want something back that was stolen from us." Lucian said, his confident voice carrying across the courtyard.

"I don't know why you think I have something to do with that," I cocked my head. "I've been in Florida since two weeks ago."

"It's not you specifically," Varia snapped. "It's in your house."

"How do you know where I live?" I glared.

Riiiiiing!

We all jumped slightly at the bell.

"Great," I muttered. "You made me late on my first day back." I grabbed Raven's hand. "Let's go."

"Not so fast," Lucian commanded, and before I could wrap my head around how fast the black haired girl moved, she was in front of me, blocking my way.

She smiled. "We really need that amulet back, cutie."

"What amulet?" I asked in exasperation.

"You're such a liar!" Varia shrieked. "He's hoarding it for himself!"

"Shut up!" Serena glared at Varia. "Can we all just go to class? Please?"

"We want that amulet back," Lucian said, his voice dropping several octaves. His charming grin was gone, replaced with a stormy expression.

"I don't have any stupid amulet, and even if I did, I wouldn't give it to you." I glared back.

He just smiled. "We'll see." He snapped his fingers at the girl in my way. "Let them through, Nicoline."

She stepped aside, giggling and biting the tips of her fingers. "See you later, cutie."

I just gave her a look, and Raven and I hurried past them.

"Man, what was that all about?" I asked as we hurried up the stairs.

"I don't even want to know. I feel like if I did, they'd torture me for information." Raven shuddered.

"Did you know them?" I continued. "They looked familiar."

"Yeah, they're in our grade, remember?" Raven adjusted his backpack. "They kinda all became friends while you were in Florida."

"Well, that's weird." I commented. "They're all so different...what the hell does a jock, a nice girl, a psychopath and two emo's have in common?"

He made a noise in agreed confusion.

We reached our lockers then, and although we weren't fortunate enough to have them side by side, Raven's was only a few feet down the same row as mine.

I pulled out my schedule that had my combination printed on it, and spun the lock.

However, it wouldn't open when I yanked on the handle.

"Ugh, come on." I muttered, spinning the combination again. I yanked harder on the handle this time, but it still held fast.

I kicked the locker in frustration.

"Locker troubles?" A voice asked me.

I straightened up and sighed. "It's like, glued shut." I looked to my side to see a boy grinning at me. He had bright blue eyes and blonde hair. His brown and white striped sweater was loose on his small shoulders, slumping to reveal a freckled collarbone.

"Yeah, Luke's locker always got stuck, I think he did it on purpose." He chuckled and got to his knees in front of the locker.

Luke.

Of course I had his locker. This tiny ass town couldn't afford one more locker, and even if they could, we wouldn't have any more space to put it.

My eyes widened when the boy pulled out a small, sharp knife. "Whoa, dude! You're going to get suspended for having a weapon on school grounds." Not that I cared, but he seemed nice and I didn't want him to get in trouble.

"Relax," another voice purred in my ear. "The school board can't hurt us."

I jumped, startled, and saw an African American girl smiling slyly at me, her amber eyes warm and her long black hair flowing down to her waist.

"H-h-hi," I blushed, stammering like an idiot.

She laughed.

"Got it!" The boy twirled the knife around in his hand as he stood up.

My locker was now open and I shoved my backpack inside, hoping to hide my red cheeks.

"What's your name?" The girl asked, still smiling at me.

"Um, it's Caine. Caine Sarius." I held out my hand, and she shook it with a giggle, making my heart pound.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Misha August and this is my friend, Cole Brynt." She introduced.

Cole nodded once as he was mentioned.

"Cool, thanks for your help." I grinned, hoping to regain some sliver of coolness.

"I haven't seen you around," Misha continued. "You new?"

"Oh, no," I laughed. "I was born and raised here. I just moved to Florida for a few months, then moved back here."

"Oooh, Florida, sounds nice and warm." Misha smiled and I got lost in her eyes.

"Y-yeah...it's nice but I guess I'm just not the humid type." I scratched my neck awkwardly, fully aware I was blushing again.

"Come on Mish, we're late. Let's head to class." Cole tugged on her sleeve.

"Yeah yeah," she waved him off and shot me one last dazzling smile. "Catch you later."

"Yeah...hah...see ya." I stared dreamily after them until they were lost in the crowd.

-

After grabbing my history textbook, I scanned the crowd of people for Raven.

To my great surprise, I spotted him talking to some people by the vending machine.

Quickly, I made my way over.

"-crazy, the whole table was flipped on its side and this picture- oh, hey Caine." Raven smiled when he noticed me. "I was just telling Hayden and his sister about last night."

"It was nothing, just my cat being clumsy." I said. "Hi, I'm Caine."

"Nice to meet a friend of Raven's. My names Hayden Orian, and this is Vylette." He reached out to shake my hand, and after a moment I took it.

His curly blonde hair looked shaggy and neat at the same time, like he took time to style it, but only for thirty seconds. His brown eyes were warm and inviting, but something held me back from accepting their kindness. His clothes were close to my style, with black skinny jeans and a dark blue top, and his sisters matching dress looked the same.

While her brother was tanned, she was pale. Her long brown hair was curled around her face, and her brown eyes were as kind as Hayden's.

I gave her a smile and a nod. "Nice to meet you too."

"So, you're the one Raven wouldn't shut up about," Hayden continued with a perfectly white smile.

I saw Raven freeze up, his eyes going wide. He punched Hayden's arm, then shook his hand in pain. "Dude, shut up!"

Hayden laughed. "Alright, fine."

"No, no," I smirked, cocking my head. "Do tell."

"Well..." Hayden leaned in, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

But before he could spill the details, the door next to us shot open, slamming into the wall before bouncing back, slightly vibrating.

The large boy responsible for the disturbance, even though he was more like a young man, barreled out, rudely shoving Raven out of his way as he stomped over to the vending machine.

"Hey!" I glared. "Watch where you're going."

He squinted at me, and lumbered over. His beady brown eyes studied me. He was at least a whole foot taller than me, and I had to crane my neck to look at his face. His black hair came to his shoulders, and despite the cooling weather, he was wearing a plain white tank top, showing off his bowling balls of muscles.

Hayden helped Raven up, while I balled my hands into fists. "Apologize to my friend."

The boy laughed. "If he wants an apology he can kiss my ass for it. Now move out of my way."

He grabbed me by the shoulders and hoisted me in the air. Tossing me aside like I was a paper doll, he stepped up to the machine and stuffed a crumpled bill into the slot.

I shook off the hands that tried to help me up. I wanted to take this guy down by myself.

"I said," I grabbed a fistful of the guys hair and spun him around. My other hand was pulled back and in a fist, ready to fly right onto this jerks right eye. "Apologize."

"Caine, let it go." Raven pleaded.

A small crowd had gathered around us, phones recording and eyes on the lookout for teachers.

The boy growled and ripped my hand from his hair, not even flinching when more than a few strands came with it. "Let go of me, twig."

"What's going on here?" A loud voice demanded.

Students quickly parted ways, fearing a teacher, but we were all surprised when a boy walked into the ring.

He was African American, and looked like he meant business.

His arms crossed as he assessed me and the bully. "Seth Blackburn. Why am I not surprised."

"Aidan." The bully, Seth apparently, sneered. He pushed me aside and Hayden was quick to catch me before I fell straight onto my ass. "Shouldn't you be robbing a gas station? Or eating fried chicken?"

"Quit harassing people." Aidan snapped, his brown eyes glaring.

"Quit getting on my case." Seth retorted.

"Need I remind you my brother is captain of the wrestling team and can kick you off at any given time?" Aiden asked, one eyebrow rising.

"Not without valid reason he can't." Seth narrowed his eyes.

"Oh trust me, he'll find some." Aidan leaned in and whispered something I couldn't make out, but sounded like Tony Sheppard.

Whoever that was, it made Seth straighten up abruptly.

"Whatever," Seth finally snorted, pushing students out of his way as he quickly retreated.

The crowd tittered, and Aidan spun to face them.

"What are you still doing here? Get to class, you instigators!" He shooed them away and some students laughed, but they all slowly dispersed into the hall.

"You okay?" Aidan turned his attention to Raven, who was rubbing his arm painfully.

"Yeah, mostly." Raven winced as he rolled up his jacket sleeve to reveal a forming bruise.

"I know what will make you feel better," Hayden smiled, walking to the vending machine.

He punched a code in, and the machine made a clunk sound as something hit the bottom.

He came back with a Coke in his hand. "Here, free of charge."

"That's stealing!" Vylette exclaimed.

"Is it? I don't see Seth putting up missing posters. Besides, dude deserved it. Consider it his apology." Hayden winked.

I decided I liked Hayden after all.

But this Aidan guy on the other hand...

He was looking at me, his arms still crossed. "Caine Sarius, right?"

I blinked, surprised. "Yeah, and you are?"

"Aidan." He gave me a once over. "You're the guy that moved into Luke's house."

"Technically it was my house first." I reminded. "And how'd you know?"

"Small town, word travels." He shrugged. "Listen, Seth totally deserved that punch you were going to give him, but the school upped it's bullying regime, and you would've been suspended along with him. Next time something like this happens, just call me, okay? I've got leverage on the guy."

I knew he was right, but my ego didn't want to admit it. "'Kay."

Aidan sighed, as if he knew how I was feeling, and ran a hand through his curled black hair. "I gotta get to class, see you guys later."

They all waved and said goodbye, and I pulled Raven aside.

"You never told me you were being bullied." I whispered angrily.

"It's Seth, he bullies everyone." Raven explained. "And what would have been the point? You couldn't do anything while you were so far away. Besides, Aidan usually takes care of him, he's a strong dude."

"I don't care if he's the strongest dude on earth," I snapped. "I care about you and the fact people seem to think they can push you around."

His blue eyes narrowed and he yanked his arm back. "You know, I can handle myself just fine. You don't need to be my nanny just because my mom is dead. I don't need someone to constantly hang over me."

"Raven- wait!" I called as he stalked back to the group. "I didn't mean it like that!"

I turned and kicked the machine in frustration. "Ugh!"

The bell rang over my head, and students around me quickly started hurrying to their classrooms.

Sighing, I picked my books up from the floor and headed towards room 17.

-

First period, American history 1103.

I walked into the room and immediately froze in my tracks when I saw Serena sitting in the front row. She was reading a book, her legs crossed at the ankles and her head in her palm. She turned a page then glanced up at me.

I casually walked past her to the back of the room. I didn't want any more trouble from her group. I had just caused enough in my own.

I took a seat at the back table. We had a shortage of desks, so the back part of the room had three round tables instead, which suited me fine. As long as I didn't have annoying partners.

But then a backpack plopped down right in front of me.

"Hey," a familiar smooth voice flirted.

Or at least, I hoped it was flirting.

"Oh, h-hey, Misha." I straightened in my seat. "You have history this period too?"

"Mhm," she scooted her chair closer to me. "Mr. Litman is such a bore, isn't he?"

"I wouldn't know, haven't had him before." I admitted.

"Oh, I have." She laughed. "Watch, he always gives out the same assignment on the first day."

The chair next to her was pulled out and Cole sat down, studying his nails. "God, I'm hungry."

"Hey man," I nodded at him, and he nodded back. "I got a granola bar in my locker if you want it."

He smiled. "Thanks, but I have to pass. Misha and I have lunch plans later."

"I was just telling Caine about Litman's boring first day assignment," Misha told her partner.

"Ugh," Cole rolled his eyes. "The old research assignment again? That's as old as him."

Misha grabbed a pencil and stood up. "Explain it to Caine while I go sharpen this?"

He nodded and she smiled and flounced away.

I watched her go, until Cole's smirking face interrupted my view.

"We're not dating, you know." He said, and my face instantly heated up.

"Wh-what?" I asked, even though I had heard what he said clearly.

"Misha is single, man. Fair game for any willing contender." He wiggled his eyebrows and I knew he knew.

Man, I was really obvious.

"Why, do you think I'm a contender?" I still attempted to hide my embarrassment.

"I know you want to be. And to be real with you," he leaned in. "You're the first guy I've seen her show interest for in a long time."

"Really?" I let my worries fly out the window. "But she's beautiful, she must have tons of guys lined up trying to get her attention."

"Oh trust me, she does." He sat back in his chair and pulled out the knife, carving something into the table. "But you're the only one she's given her attention to."

I admired his risky yet chill behavior.

"Oh...well, thanks for telling me." I said sincerely, and he just smiled.

Misha came back just as the classroom door was shut by the teacher walking in.

I inched my chair slightly closer to hers while she was distracted by the start of class.

"Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great summer." Mr. Litman, a man with white, balding hair and more wrinkles than I thought it was possible to have on one man's face, said. He set his books down and faced us. "Who has some great stories to tell about their vacations?"

While some students raised their hands, eager to talk, I retreated my attention back to our table.

Cole was still doodling on the wood, and Misha was smiling at me.

I blushed, and hid my cheek with one hand to hide it. "So, uh, I didn't notice you guys when I was here before I moved."

Misha laid her hand across mine, and my eyebrows shot into my hairline. My heart skipped a beat, then started working overtime.

"Well, we were kinda invisible for a while." She said, and Cole snickered.

"Like...unpopular?" I asked, not wanting to sound offensive.

She nodded. "But together, we set new paths for ourselves and, well, now I'm suddenly in the sights of someone like you." She giggled and tapped her long white nail against my nose.

"Well, I-I mean, I'm nothing special." I laughed nervously.

She just grinned at me. "Don't say that, you're super special."

"Can you two stop flirting?" Cole flipped the blade in the air and caught it between two fingers. "I refuse to be a third wheel here."

"Where did you get that knife?" I asked him suddenly, something clicking in my mind.

"Why?" He asked, looking interested suddenly.

"No reason, I just think I might need it later." I said casually.

He studied me for a moment then smiled. "Then here, you can keep it."

He tossed it over to me and I let out a soft yelp of surprise, luckily catching the handle.

"Thanks." I said, and he just smiled and nodded.

If this could open the stuck locker, maybe it can open the stuck drawer at home as well, I thought to myself.

Misha took my hand in hers again, and a shy smile forced it's way across my lips.

Despite this mornings bad start, the day was taking a surprisingly nice turn for the better.

-

The assignment turned out to be having to do a research paper of either someone from the town, or a famous event that happened in town. Given that I had no idea of any event that would be interesting, I decided to do a person.

"You should do Luke Manson." Misha whispered to me.

"Why?" I whispered back, not surprised she knew about the dead boy.

"Why not? He killed himself in your house, who wouldn't want to know more?" Cole interrupted.

He had a point, and I was deathly curious.

"Well, alright. Besides, now I can get credit for snooping." I decided.

I pulled my phone out and checked its screen, but Raven hadn't texted. I sighed and shoved it back into my pocket.

"Texting your girlfriend?" Misha asked me.

"Hah, no." I rolled my eyes.

"Then forget whoever that is and pay attention to me." She pouted, her pretty amber eyes stunning me.

I smiled and took her hand. "If you insist."

"Wanna walk home with us?" Cole asked. "Our place is right past yours. We can drop you off."

"Oh, that sounds fun, but my friend and I always walk home together." I explained. "He'd be upset if I left without him."

"Boohoo, it's just one day. Don't you wanna escort me?" Misha tilted her head and I made up my mind.

"Well...I'm sure Raven will be fine on his own."

She and Cole grinned. "Great, we'll meet you at your locker after school."

"Great," I dreamily stared at Misha, until the bell abruptly shattered the peace.

She blew me a kiss as the class got up to leave. "See you later."

"Bye." I waved, hoping to have them in another class later on.

-

Turns out I did have a familiar face in my next class, which was English.

But it wasn't a friendly one.

Sterling gave me a cold stare when I entered the room, and I sighed.

Today was going to a long one.


End file.
